Don't forget to pack your...

Set in Bombay, this novel tells the story of an Indian family riven by social tensions that are the result of lost loves, missed opportunities and the constraints of social etiquette.

Mistry's previous novel A Fine Balance (£7.99) is also a must, providing an all-encompassing picture of Indian society and its divisions.

Life of Pi by Yann Martel (£6.99)

An outlandish tale of a boy stuck for months on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger. Don't let that put you off. A well spun yarn, this book engages you in a debate about the nature of animals and our relationship to them.

Spies by Michael Frayn (£6.99)

Brilliant novel that captures memories of childhood and the atmosphere of Britain at the time of the Second World War.

Also worth reading is Frayn's earlier novel Headlong (£6.99), a fascinating story of the history of a painting by Bruegel.

Web of Deceit by Mark Curtis (£7.99)

If you want an easy to read, compelling low down on the crimes of the British state around the world-from Malaya to Afghanistan-then this is the book to read.

The Visit of the Royal Physicianby Per Enquist (£6.99)

A moving novel, set in late 18th century Denmark, based on real historical events and figures. It is a love story, but it is also about the battle between enlightenment and feudal barbarity.

Path to the Spiders' Nestsby Italo Calvino (£5.99)

The Twenty Three Days of the City of Albaby Beppe Fenoglio (£9.99)

Both stories deal with experience of the partisan resistance to fascism in Italy in the Second World War, and explore the choices that people were forced to make.

Also available is The Abruzzo Trilogy by Ignazio Silone (£12.99), which includes the novels Bread and Wine, Seed Beneath the Snow and Silone's brilliant anti-fascist story Fontamara.

Brick Lane by Monica Ali (£12.99)

This is a moving and compassionate novel of the life of a Bangladeshi woman and her sister. It paints an unforgettable picture of the diversity of characters in east London's Tower Hamlets.

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters (£7.99)

Gripping novel set in 19th century Britain that touches on hypocrisy surrounding class, crime and sexuality in the Victorian era.

The Mineral Palace by Heidi Julavits (£6.99)

A beautifully written novel about a woman yearning for personal and sexual freedom against the backdrop of the repressive atmosphere of small-town America in the 1930s.

We Did Nothingby Linda Polman (£12.99)

Reveals some of the reality behind the rhetoric about independent United Nations intervention in Somalia, Haiti and elsewhere. Polman says that UN resolutions are like hot dogs-if you knew how they're made you wouldn't want to eat them!

Six Easy Pieces by Walter Mosley (£12)

Perfect holiday reading. Six short stories starring Easy Rawlins set in the early 1960s. Acutely perceptive about working class and black people's lives as the civil rights movement and Vietnam War are looming.

War Talk by Arundhati Roy (£8)

New collection of essays by the former Booker prizewinner. Passionate, committed and a searing indictment of capitalism, imperialism and war.